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This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Redskins. Few in their right mind, including myself, dared to predict playoffs for a team that had won seven games over the past two seasons and would be led by an erratic quarterback.

But these Redskins fooled us all, didn’t they?

A 38-24 win over the Eagles Saturday night in Philly clinched the Redskins’ first NFC East title since 2012. It also marked the first time since 1999 that they will enter the final week of the regular season with a playoff berth secured. The Eagles and Giants are out of the picture.

Now 8-7 with a game left at Dallas next Sunday, the over-achieving unit will host a first-round playoff game against either the Vikings (10-5), Packers (10-5) or Seahawks (9-6).

In an ecstatic post-game locker room, the victorious Redskins donned baseball caps that said “NFC East Champions” and discussed how it felt to reach such lofty heights and exceed the expectations of so many.

“It feels great,” said linebacker Mason Foster, who signed as a free agent in late September. “Once I got here, I knew we had a lot of talent, and we were going to put it together. We had the right pieces, it would just take a little bit of time to get things right. Coach (Jay) Gruden, (defensive coordinator) Joe Barry, we all put it together. No matter what happened, injuries, guys kept working, and we made it happen.”

Mason, who took over as the starter for an injured Perry Riley three weeks ago against the Cowboys, was one of the “no names” on a defense that, while not Carolina-esque, was stingy enough to help fuel the team’s resurgence. He was joined by other unheralded players such as linebacker Will Compton, cornerback Will Blackmon and Quinton Dunbar, a rookie free agent converted from receiver to cornerback in training camp.

A late signing this season, 10th-year running back Pierre Thomas, had an amazing game against the Eagles with seven catches for 67 yards and four rushes for 22 more.

Those guys combined with existing talent such as superstar tight end Jordan Reed and solid veteran free agent signings like defensive linemen Terrance Knighton and Ricky Jean Francois, plus draft picks who made major contributions in guard Brandon Scherff, defensive end Preston Smith (three sacks and a force fumble against the Eagles), wide receiver Jamison Crowder and safety Kyshoen Jarrett, to form a team with a wonderful chemistry.

This is where Scot McCloughan comes in. He took over as the Redskins’ general manager nearly a year ago after leaving his imprint on championship organizations in San Francisco and Seattle, where the man with a keen eye for talent stockpiled it in droves. He appears to have the Redskins headed in a championship direction, too, if not this season then in the coming years.

Francois voiced respect for McCloughan, whose acquisition is probably the best decision owner Dan Snyder has made since buying the team in 1999. McCloughan has essentially changed the culture of the organization.

“That man did a lot in his career, not only here, not only in Seattle, not only in San Francisco,” Francois said. “Anywhere that man goes, he puts teams together. We got to keep this guy around because this is just the tip of the iceberg. Next year, he’s going to add more guys to the piece of the puzzle. All it’s going to do is get stronger and stronger, and this team is going to get scarier and scarier.”

Then there’s Kirk Cousins, who has elevated his game to become one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL. He had another excellent showing against the Eagles, throwing four touchdown passes for a season-high 365 yards with no interceptions and a 120.3 passer rating. It was his fifth straight game with a rating of 100 or more.

Cousins has thrown a remarkable 20 touchdown passes and three interceptions in the past nine games. With 3,990 passing yards, he’s on the cusp of setting the team’s single-season mark of 4,105 set by Jay Schroeder in 1986.

Think back to when Gruden tapped Cousins over RGIII to be the Redskins’ starter prior to the season-opener, an incredibly gutsy move if there ever was one. Nobody could have imagined that a fourth-year quarterback who had struggled to read defenses and threw too many interceptions, some at the most inopportune times, would progress this fast. But Cousins has guaranteed himself a big pay-day once this season is over. He also stabilized Gruden’s job.

“Kirk Cousins has a swagger about himself now,” Francois said. “That was the same guy they said wasn’t going to be a franchise quarterback. It’s funny how he put his hat on out here, but everybody said he wasn’t a franchise quarterback, he’s not a good quarterback. It shocks me to say that’s not a good quarterback. Give the man time to throw and see what he develops into. He developed into an NFC East champion as a quarterback.”

The Redskins, winners of three in a row, have gotten hot at just at the right time. This is when NFL teams want to find their groove so they can carry a lot of momentum into the playoffs.

That’s why the Redskins should play for the win and not take Dallas lightly in the season-finale. After all, who wants to be swept this season by the despised Cowboys?

“I understand I got to enjoy this, but I want Dallas,” Francois said. “We got to think about the Dallas game. That’s a great team. That’s Jerry’s team. That’s a good team that beat us in our building."

In an appearance on The Chris Russell Show on ESPN 980 on Feb. 11, 2015, Mike Richman compares the last two decades of Redskins futility to the quarter-century period after World War II, another era of Redskins ineptitude. He cites stark similarities between the two periods beyond a sub-.500 winning percentage. He also talks with Russell, the Redskins' beat reporter for ESPN 980, about comparisons between Redskins executive Bruce Allen and Bruce's father, legendary Redskins coach and Hall of Famer George Allen. Check it out!

For so many years, the Redskins have either neglected, under-emphasized or mismanaged the NFL draft, considered by nearly all proven football minds to be the No. 1 tool for constructing a perennial winner.

That's why the remarks by McCloughan, the Redskins' new general manager, at his opening press conference earlier this month were so refreshing. He talked about how in previous NFL experiences during his 22-year career in Green Bay, San Francisco and Seattle, the draft was the primary personnel mechanism for not only elevating his teams to big-time success -- but maintaining that success, too. He called the draft the "lifeline of our organization."

“The thing I liked about what we did in San Fran, what we did in Seattle, we drafted our own, molded our own and re-signed the ones we wanted to re-sign,” he said. “So all of a sudden now, you train them how you want to train them. See, in Washington, we’re going to draft these guys and mold them as Redskins. We’re not going to have to go out to other organizations and bring in 32- and 33-year-olds who have different plans.”

McCloughan, who has drafted and acquired some of the best talent in the NFL over the past decade, also talked about what he learned from Ted Thompson and Ron Wolf when he worked under the two brilliant personnel executives years ago in Green Bay. One of the tips his picked up was to not rely excessively on free agency, an area the Redskins have overindulged in, for example, by signing over-hyped players like Albert Haynesworth to exorbitant contracts, then seeing them fall embarrassingly short of expectations.

“The first thing I learned from both of them is to not dabble in free agency," McCloughan said. "It’s always the draft. I’m a little different – I’m a little more aggressive than that. The thing about Ron and Ted both is (they’re) just so organized, so structured, and they knew exactly what they wanted in a football player. And you know what, every now and then they take a chance on a height-weight-speed guy, and it wouldn’t pan out. But all of a sudden, we’re taking guys – five, six, seven interior linemen coming in – five- to eight-year starters going to a couple of Pro Bowls. So I think it’s very methodical. You don’t do knee-jerk reactions. You’re very, very thorough, not just from the standpoint of how they play on tape but how they’re wired. What’s the strength coach say? What’s the trainer say? What do other teammates who played with them the year before say? I think once you get the whole portfolio kind of together, then you realize, you know what, this is the kind of guy we want. This is the kind of guy we know is going to be consistent every day on the practice field. And you might not be the best athlete or the fastest athlete. But you know what, you get enough of those guys together, you’re going to win more than you lose.”

Hopefully, McCloughan will reverse a trend that has crippled the Redskins not only during the Dan Snyder era, but also since Joe Gibbs left the team for the first time after the 1992 season, a near-quarter-century period when the Redskins have posted a dismal .411 winning percentage. That trend runs counter to the point McCloughan made about establishing longevity with draft picks, an area where the Redskins have been an utter failure.

The following statistics are shocking: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Redskins have the fewest number of draft picks in the NFL (37) who have started more than 10 games with the team during the period of 1999 to 2014, Snyder's 16-season ownership era. The Bills and Titans have the most (63 each), followed by the Browns (62), Bears (61) and Cardinals (60). The Titans, Bears and Cardinals have been to Super Bowls during that span. Moreover, from 1993 to 2014, 61 Redskin draft picks have started more than 10 games, third-fewest in the NFL during that 22-season span. The Bills (87), Titans (86), Cardinals (85), Rams (82) and Bears (81) top the list, and all five of those teams have reached the Super Bowl.

You've got your work cut out for you, Scot McCloughan. At least from the way things sound, however, you'll be trying to improve the team in a logical and professional manner, instead of resorting to the mind-boggling, amateurish, knee-jerk decisions that have been devastating the Redskins. As long as Snyder doesn't meddle and gives McCloughan the freedom to do what he does best, there’s room for optimism!

Former Redskins tight end Clint Didier is Mike Richman's special guest on this episode of "Burgundy & Gold Flashback." Didier, who caught 19 touchdown passes in his six seasons in D.C. (1982-87) and earned two Super Bowl rings, shares his thoughts on the 3-10 Redskins after a 24-0 loss to the St. Louis Rams on Dec. 8, 2014, their fifth straight defeat. He also talks about Super Bowl XXII, when he caught a touchdown pass during the Redskins' 35-point, second-quarter explosion that led to a 42-10 win over the Broncos, as well as his political endeavors. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2010 and 2014.

On May 14, 2014, the foundation Youth for Tomorrow held its annual "Burgundy & Gold Banquet" at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Tysons Corner, Va. That night, legendary Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, who founded Youth for Tomorrow in the 1980s, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Youth for Tomorrow, located on a campus in Bristow, Va., consists of a series of buildings that house and assist at-risk kids.

Mike Ditka does not mince words. The Hall of Fame tight end, Super Bowl-winning coach and long-time ESPN NFL analyst is often outspoken and brash. In my recent interview with him, he held nothing back when voicing his opinion on the Redskins' nickname controversy, sharply criticizing those pressuring Dan Snyder to change the team's name and logo. Thank you, Iron Mike!

EXCERPT: How could the Redskins have fallen so far, so fast? It was a simple question but a complicated one to answer following their calamitous 3-13 season in 2013. Consider: They won the NFC East in 2012, capturing their last seven regular-season games to finish 10-6 before losing in the first round of the playoffs. Momentum was behind them. Plus, they were returning virtually the same roster that starred their franchise quarterback, Robert Griffin III, who posted one of the most spectacular rookie seasons in NFL history in 2012. You couldn’t go wrong with predictions of 12-4, 11-5, 10-6 or 9-7. A Super Bowl run even seemed a possibility. It was easy to find someone on the Redskins’ bandwagon.

Since the beginning of the next season of American football in the United States to re-energize the debate about the name of one of the oldest and most popular teams of the National Football League, "Washington Redskins". "Redskins" in English means "Indians" and some American Indians believe the team's name racist and offensive. They demand that the team change its name.

Since the beginning of the next season of American football in the United States to re-energize the debate about the name of one of the oldest and most popular teams of the National Football League, "Washington Redskins". "Redskins" in English means "Indians" and some American Indians believe the team name racist and offensive. They demand that the team changed its name.

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Mike Richman is the man with all of the answers when it comes to Redskins history. A journalist who has covered sports for a quarter-century, Mike is the author of the two most comprehensive books on Redskins history – the Washington Redskins Football Vault and The Redskins Encyclopedia. He also served as lead editor and co-author of Joe Gibbs: An Enduring Legacy, a photo-heavy book that highlights the amazing life achievements of legendary Redskins coach Joe Gibbs. Mike's articles on Redskins history have appeared in myriad publications, and he has hosted an award-winning Redskins TV show called “Burgundy & Gold Magazine” and a podcast called "Burgundy & Gold Flashback."

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About Mike

Redskins historian and journalist Mike Richman is the author of the two most comprehensive books on Redskins history – The Redskins Encyclopedia and the Washington Redskins Football Vault: The History of a Proud Franchise. Mike also served as lead editor and co-author of Joe Gibbs: An Enduring Legacy, a photo-heavy book that reviews the amazing life achievements of legendary Redskins coach Joe Gibbs. Mike has also hosted a podcast focusing on Redskins history called "Burgundy & Gold Flashback," which brings listeners front and center with the team's tradition, and he has produced and hosted a TV show called "Burgundy & Gold Magazine." For his work on "Burgundy & Gold Magazine," Mike won first place for sports coverage in the nationally recognized 2013 Hometown Media Awards sponsored by the Alliance for Community Media. He's been interviewed extensively by print and broadcast media on Redskins...